It’s that dreaded time of year at our house: thunderstorm season. The rain that falls from the sky is wonderful. It is welcomed and much needed. Unfortunately, it’s too often by a “rock and roll laser light show” that drives my dog into a state of near psychosis, at least if no one is home with him.

The fun has already begun. Yesterday upon returning home for lunch, I discovered our Border Collie waiting for me, saturated, in the front yard. I know better than to leave him in the back yard while my wife and I are out of the home. But I didn’t do that. In fact, I had locked all of the doors and padlocked the back door securely shut. I forgot one thing, though. I left the key in the padlock to make it easy to get in and out of the back door.

After toweling off the dog and letting him back inside, I went to investigate the back door, his usual escape hatch. The padlock lay on the floor with the key beside it.

That’s how it is at our house during thunderstorm season. We never know what we’ll return home to after a thunderstorm rolls through. I could talk about chewed up doors, chewed up curtains, gums cut and bleeding from chewing on metal hasps to escape, calls from the emergency room at the hospital about our dog visiting there … the list is endless. I just know that my dog’s stimulus-response to unexplained noises like thunder is “flee for your life.”

Anyway, I’m ready for the end of thunderstorm season. In the meantime though, if we have to put up with the light and sound, hopefully it will be worth our while … and rain and rain and rain.